Some of us apparently haven’t seen this admonition on certain rail cars before (I’m looking at you, Stephanie), because some of us thought it was pretty darn funny. Yes, there are folks with fetishes for large vehicles, but I’ve never heard of one involving a light rail car, but then nothing surprises me anymore. Anyway, what it means, Stephanie, is that this is a delicate load, and should not be taken over “the hump” in an automated switching yard, as it can get a bit rough when one rail car hooks up with the next one there.

Speaking of hump signs, Eugene loves speed bumps, and at one point a couple of years ago the city decided to put up warning signs. Their choice of wording had an unintended consequence:

Come on, Public Works Department; this is a University town! They were all gone within weeks, adorning bedrooms all around the campus area. They quickly switched to Speed Bump. Your tax dollars at work…

Changing the name of High Street, which runs just a few blocks west of the campus, might save us poor beleaguered property tax payers some coin over the long run. Actually, the city has just stopped replacing them in the past few years. How about using some special fasteners that can’t readily be removed? I guess in this day of google maps and nav systems, street signs are pretty much obsolete anyway.

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I suppose all college towns should have a High Street. Up here in Seattle, we have a street named Royal Brougham Way. It’s named after a sports writer who bore that unlikely moniker, and It runs past the new football stadium. Imagine cruising up and down that street in your LeGrandiose LuxoBarge Supreme… It can’t get more broughamtastic than that. Too bad it’s an open-air stadium. Seems like it ought to have a vinyl top…

High St. is the main north south street through the center of Columbus, OH. In the center of the city (the intersection of High St. and Broad St.), it runs past the State House. It runs for 6/10ths mi. along the eastern edge of the campus of The Ohio State University which is 2.3 mi north of the State House. High St. is the main commercial area for the 50,000 or so students, who mostly live east and north of campus.

I used to work on High Street in Boston. In proper obtuse Yankee fashion, it’s about six inches above sea level. Also, there’s no School on School Street, and for a long time there was no Post Office in PO Square. And Middlesex County is north of Suffolk which is north of Norfolk. Welcome! Now get lost. 🙂

As an incoming train backs its cars up over the hump they’re uncoupled, switches sort the cars onto separate sidings for each destination. Real yards have retarders on the tracks that slow down the cars so they don’t slam into each other too hard.

Without a hump, the train has to back into each branch in turn. But then it can uncouple when it has gently moved the car to its place.

(I’m not an expert, and welcome corrections from the RR pros in the commentariat.)

I was once commissioned to create an objet d’art for the president of Amtrak entitled “GG1s Humping in the Night”. Two HO GG1s (one Tuscan red, the other PRR green) doing it doggie-style on a walnut base with a brass plaque. Pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.

Portland uses Siemens 96′ S70s which have a much swoopier nose than what’s seen here. This looks like an 81′ S70 that Salt Lake uses, but why it would be in Eugene is a mystery. Possibly it’s an SD 160 going to Edmonton.

There is also a High Street in front of the state capital building here in Jefferson City. Plus, the capital building is next door to a Catholic Church so any repentant politician to go confess their sins.

I used to dabble in road signs. Where I was at the time had US 69 running through it. These signs were as popular as Elvis in Memphis. However, a little coating of axle grease on the back stopped all attempts at theft.

In my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, there was a street named after a former mayor – Harry W. Baals. I remember a street sign for Harry W. Baals Drive, that I’ll bet was stolen a lot. Newer versions are H.W.Baals Drive.

Well…I used to live at the corner of Fifth and High – in a small town in Ohio where such activities were inordinately popular.

As for the “DO NOT HUMP” admonition…a lot of rail shipments don’t wanna get screwed with rough handling. That’s actually a common sign – usually in smaller type.

Typical are lumber cars; log cars; special shipments such as that one, military shipments held on flatcars with tie-downs; hazardous materials; and some auto racks.

Humping is actually pretty violent. Slamming 179,000 lbs of loaded freight cars moving at five miles an hour, into an even larger standing mass of 20 other loads, with brakes tied on…stopping can be instantaneous. Or, the frame can flex and the car jump up off the rails, springing like a bow.

Wayside cameras by training and engineering personnel have recorded it. A car doesn’t need to move upward very much to clear the wheel flange; and when it comes down, it’s a lot of violent weight drop.

But…yeah, those instructions can get a lot of snickers. There’s another common sign on corners of covered hoppers: Next to a welded pad for lifting, there’s stenciling with wide spacing

JACK HERE

Of course graffiti artists had to supply the missing OFF between the two.